Twilight Meeting
by Fliggy
Summary: They say at twilight, the bonds between worlds grow weaker. Time doesn't flow the way it should. A series of one-shots/short stories inspired by the movie and its characters. The first chapter, Twilight Meeting, is inspired by the short story "Night Meeting" by Ray Bradbury.
1. Twilight Meeting

Before heading up into the mountains, Taki stopped for a meal at a lonely diner, nestled between the foothills.

There were no other customers, and just a single staffer, an old, gristly man who took his order and then bustled off to the kitchen.

"Bit lonely out here, don't you think?" Taki said, when the old man came back out with his food.

"It's not so bad."

"Oh yeah?"

"I don't know. I came out here to try to forget about things. You spend your whole life in the city, working, drinking, whatever. You lose track of time. Maybe I'm just crazy. But I like it. I go into town to get what I need. Weather's nice."

"It sure is beautiful." Taki said.

"Sure thing." Through the window, the sun hovered in the sky, above the horizon. Its reflection glistened off the lake. The old man started wiping down the tables. "What brings you to these parts?"

"Just hiking." Taki said. "Wanted to get out of the city, same as you. I guess I just felt drawn here."

"It's special, this place is," said the old man. "It doesn't feel like it should exist, almost. The mountains, and the flowers, and the lake, and the birds. It's different. Something about all the comets that fell. Time just doesn't flow quite right anymore. It gets tangled and knotted, I've seen it in the clocks. And in the spring the ice melts in the mountaintops, and the water runs in little streams and rivulets down to the lake. But each year they melt different, and they shouldn't, they shouldn't, but they all run together."

The man wiped his brow. "Sorry, never mind me. Just rambling. If you're going hiking, you should check out the white crater up on that mountain, there." He pointed. "Gorgeous view of the lake. If you leave now, you might be able to catch the sunset. It's worth it."

"Thanks," Taki said. "I think I'll do that." He left some crumpled bills on the table. Chuckling to himself, he started off down the trail towards the mountain, backpack slung over his shoulder.

* * *

It was a long way, and the sun began to dip low in the sky. Taki didn't mind. There was the smell of something in the air, something old, but peaceful. Spirits, maybe, in the trees and in the rocks. The lake was beautiful – it had been formed by not one, but two meteor hits. He passed the ruins of Itomori on his way to the white crater. So many meteors, Taki reflected, in such close proximity, as if even the stars were drawn here.

The old road up the mountain lay mostly intact. Taki took a moment to admire the landscape, then began the ascent. He wanted to reach the mountain by sunset – and see the colors of the sun dazzle across the surface of the lake.

The sun began to sink further and further in the sky as he made his way up the trail. He stopped for a little to rest and drink some coffee from his thermos. In the twilight air, he caught the scent of something indescribable in the wind. He was turning to continue when he saw the flash of movement.

Running down the old road was a young schoolgirl, maybe about his age.

"Huh?" Taki said, to himself. The girl seemed to notice him as she approached. "Hey!" he called out.

"Hello!" she cried out in response.

"Is everything alright? Why are you running?" he asked.

"I want to make it to the festival in time."

"The festival? In time for what? What's your name?"

The girl looked taken aback. She giggled, almost nervously. "That's too many questions. I'm Mitsuha. Who are you? I don't recognize you."

"I'm Taki. I'm from Tokyo, just passing through."

"Oh, Tokyo! Wow. What're you doing all the way out here?" she asked him.

Taki looked around at the mountains, and the slowly fading light. "I'm not sure. I think I just wanted to a change of scenery." He hesitated for a second. "You said there was some kind of festival?"

"Yeah," Mitsuha said. "Right down by the lake. The whole town will be there."

"Town?" Taki's brow furrowed. "I didn't know anyone still lived out here."

Mitsuha stifled a laugh. "Of course they do, silly. Can't you see all the houses right over there?" She extended a finger and pointed. Taki turned and looked.

For a second, he was just confused. "I don't understand… all I see are…" He felt a slight chill. She was pointing towards the Itomori ruins.

"Can't you see all the lights, and stands, and people? It's our yearly festival. But this year it's going to be extra special. You should come! You can meet Katsuhiko, and Sayaka, and tell us about the city."

"Mitsuha…" Taki said. "Are you by chance going to go see a comet in the night sky?"

She gave him a look. "Of course. What are you, stupid? What's wrong with you? Everybody's been talking about the comet for the past six months."

"Mitsuha, all I see down there are ruins. Three years ago, there was a comet passing by the Earth. Part of it broke up – from the planet's tidal forces – and rained down through the atmosphere. A chunk fell on Itomori… destroyed the whole town. I remember hearing about it on the news. I think hundreds of people died."

The sun's last rays flickered intermittently over the horizon. Mitsuha seemed to tremble a little. "Hey, that's not funny at all!" she said. "What kind of prank is this? That doesn't make any sense. How could the town be destroyed if I see it right there?"

"All I see are broken walls and caved-in houses."

"That's not – here, I'll show you, oh!" Mitsuha leaned forward to grab Taki's hand, but when she did, their arms passed through each other. She stared in shock, then a whimper escaped. "Huh? How is that possible?"

Taki stared back, equally shocked. How can this be? Unless…

"You must be a memory," he said, softly.

"Huh, what's that?"

"When the comet fell, it must have imprinted something into the landscape. Maybe when it shook the earth, it ruptured something, and time broke here, just a little. And it doesn't quite make sense anymore, and sometimes, you can see things as they used to be. Ghosts of the past."

"What? No, I'm not a ghost." Mitsuha recoiled. "Maybe you're the ghost. Maybe some traveler slipped and fell on the trail, and now his phantom tries to scare people, telling them stories about how they're going to die."

Taki looked at his hands helplessly. "There's nothing I could say that could prove it to you."

"Then go on, phantom. Leave me be."

Taki looked down at the ground, trying to think. After a moment, Mitsuha pushed past him – no, through him, starting off down the road, towards the festival, and towards…

"Mitsuha, wait!"

She hesitated.

"What if neither of us is a ghost. They say, at twilight, the bonds between worlds grow weaker. Maybe, what we're seeing is each other, but not as memories, as… we really are."

"How… but you said we'd be years apart."

"I don't know," Taki said. "None of this make any sense. But I know what's going to happen to you, if you go down there. You can leave, Mitsuha. You might still have time to get to safety."

She stared at him for what seemed like a long time.

"How can I believe you?" she said, in almost a whisper. "How can any of this be real?"

The last of the sun's light disappeared beneath the mountaintops, and before him, she winked out of existence.

He stared out over the lake. It was quiet. "Mitsuha," he said, rolling the name around with his tongue, trying it out. "Mitsuha."

A dream? A fantasy?

He sat by the road for the rest of the night, but nothing else broke the silence.


	2. Fate's Pattern

_(Author's Note: I've decided to make this a series of short stories / one-shot pieces inspired by the movie. Some will be direct continuations or add-ons to the story, some will be AU stuff, and some will be just totally out there (like this one). Still... I hope you enjoy.)_

* * *

Fate was horrified.

"Erl… what do you think you're doing?" she cried. "Look what you've done – oh no, you've made such a mess. Those two lines are hopelessly tangled."

Erl looked up at her sheepishly. At the loom, two of the timelines were twisted together, dreadfully. Fate leaned in closer to examine her apprentice's handiwork. "Oh, goodness," she said. "Look at this! They're switching consciousness, and they're three years and countless miles apart! And – heavens, no! Erl, you've put a boy in a girl's body!" She glared at him. "What were you thinking?"

"They _wanted_ to be together," Erl said. He was looking at his own hands, as if berating them. "I couldn't help it. I tried to keep them apart but they were connected. And they fit together so perfectly."

"Of course they were connected," Fate snapped. "In parallel, though, not intertwined! Did you forget that? A double helix, Erl, forever running side by side, _never to intersect!_ I'm just glad I caught you before you damaged the whole pattern. For goodness sake, Erl, we're supposed to be professionals."

Carefully, Fate finished untwining the two rogue strings. Delicately, she curled them back into their proper, original positions. She waited a second, with bated breath. Thankfully, blessedly, they did not twist back together.

"Thank heavens. No permanent damage."

She gave him a wearisome look. "Erl, you must be more careful in the future. Timelines are very delicate, and when we're working on something as important as this comet pattern, you must be very precise, okay?"

"Okay," Erl said. "I'm sorry." He looked down, clearly ashamed.

Fate felt a slight tinge of remorse. It was her apprentice's first mistake, ever. He was a quite gifted student. "It's all right," she said. "I know you didn't mean it. Just be extra cautious, from now on."

"I will, I promise."

"Good."

* * *

"Erl, NO!" Her voice was a high-pitched shriek. "It's even worse than last time!"

The lines were tangled everywhere. The two same timelines were roped together, as before, but this time they spread outwards, too, curling up and down across other lines, running in circles and shapes she knew would not fit the pattern.

"Oh goodness," she whispered to herself, rushing forward. "The whole design, it's – "

Above her, the starry timelines forming the comet were the only thing fully intact. "Erl, hand me the small scissors," she said.

Erl passed them to her. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I wasn't trying to, but… something was… they just kept coming together, no matter what I did… they were tied together."

Fate was too worried to be angry. If she didn't work fast, everything could be ruined. The boy was in the girl's body, and the girl was in the boy's body, even though they were three years apart – shouldn't even be possible – and they were, _oh lord they were interacting with each other's friends, communicating with each other, going on dates_ –

"Just feel lucky," she said, in a hoarse voice. "He didn't find out about the town's name. If he had put the pieces together… told her about the comet… the whole pattern could have been ruined." With a final snip, she severed the last of the should-not-be time strands.

In a gruff voice, next to her, Earl said, "I don't see why this comet pattern's so important, anyway."

Fate felt a white-hot rage in her gut. She whirled on her apprentice. "Everything depends on this pattern, Erl. Everything!"

"Really?" he said. The tone of his voice would not do at all. "I don't get what's so beautiful about it. It's just a whole lot of townspeople dying, while a boy goes about his business in Tokyo."

"The boy, the girl, the town... they're not important! None of them are important," Fate said. "I thought I taught you better, Erl. It's the _whole pattern_ that matters. The beauty comes from order. Everything in its place. No two strings are special enough to get their own spotlight. You have the preserve the _structure_ of the piece. And what you did?" She gestured at the loom. "Switching bodies? Time skips? Letting them communicate? It's breaking the rules, Erl."

She looked at him, staring him down.

Let him challenge me, Fate thought. Give me one excuse, and I'll throw him out.

He said nothing.

She turned back to the loom, and snipped two more threads. Erl let out a muffled gasp.

"There," she said, holding out the two broken strings. "Here are their memories of each other. Throw them in the trash. It damages the pattern, now, but it's worth it, to keep you out of any more trouble."

Erl took the two strings. "Okay," he said, in a small voice.

"One more chance," she told him. "If you screw up one more time, you're done."

* * *

This time, her met her at the door. She could tell, by the look in his eyes.

"What am I going to see, when I walk in there?" she asked.

He said nothing.

"Eros!" she cried, addressing him by his real name. "I asked you a question. Answer me! _What did you do this time?"_

"Promise me you'll look at it," he said. "Give it an actual chance, before you – "

She pushed past him. Throwing the door open, she walked in, and stared at the pattern. She was trembling. "Oh, no, no… heavens, no…"

"Fate, please, just look closer," she heard Erl beg, but she rushed forward, her hands reaching instinctively for the scissors. "No, no, you've ruined it all!" she cried. The townspeople were evacuating, the whole town was saved, impossible, _impossible…_ This is all wrong!"

She was about to rip the whole thing down, when something caught her eye.

There was something strange about part of the pattern.

"Those colors. I've never seen colors like these before."

Behind her, Erl spoke. "I told you," he said. "They wanted to be together."

She leaned in for a closer look. She caught her breath. "It's them. Their memories… they… they grew back?" She traced the strands with her fingers. "These colors, like violet and crimson, but not quite either. I've never seen anything like this. I didn't know these colors existed."

After a moment, she regained her composure. She leaned back to survey the whole work.

"Well, it doesn't quite make perfect sense," she concluded. "But I guess it's beautiful. And that's what matters."

She and Erl stood in silence for a moment. "I really am sorry," Erl said. "I understand if you want to fire me. I didn't mean to, I swear. It just… happened."

"No, it's okay." Fate said. "I think this is better than what I had in mind, anyway. I… I shouldn't have doubted you."

Her design had been something structured, circular, orderly. This piece was… well it was all tangled together, looping in on itself, little pirouettes and spirals. But somehow, it worked. She knew then, that Erl would make a good master of the loom someday.

She took one last, long gaze at it, then turned to go. But she hesitated, in the doorway. "Still, after we show it to the Big Guy, make sure to unravel those two timelines. We can't just let memories connect people across the years like that. It's unprofessional."

"I will." Erl said, striding back to his place by the strands of time. "But somehow, I get the feeling, even if we unravel them… in the end, somehow, they'll find each other."

"Hm. Maybe." Fate said, not truly listening to him. _Those colors_ , she thought to herself, as she left. _I've never seen those colors before._


End file.
